Michigan football: Bye week, Illinois and Sparty... it's do or die now

Believe it or not, Michigan football still has everything in front of them. I know anybody reading this is going to roll their eyes and tell me I'm crazy... but am I? Michigan football essentially has a new team coming in two weeks when they face off against Illinois.

Jack Tuttle is going to be the starter moving forward and he gives them a dynamic we have yet to see from this offense. Now, I'm not guaranteeing anything, nor am I predicting anything, but I am certainly not giving up on this season. There is too much veteran leadership in that locker room to give up on this team.

Bye week

I trust Sherrone Moore to do whatever he can to address the issues on this team. The things that stand out to me most are defensive-back communication and wide-receiver production. The Michigan football defensive backs are way too talented to be giving up the amount of production they have been.

It seems like before so many snaps, they are still talking to each other, backs are turned and it leads to giving up chunk plays. These are things you expect to see at the high school level, not at an elite division one level. This needs to be cleaned up quickly.

Secondly, the wide receiver room for Michigan football has been nothing short of abysmal this year. Our wide receivers are not the most talented group in the world but it certainly has more potential than what they are showing. A wide receiver caught one pass past the line of scrimmage vs Washington. That is insane. Incorporate play action, introduce new route concepts, and figure out a way to get Fred Moore and Tyler Morris more involved. Lastly, the entire offense needs to emphasize ball security. This team is not good enough to continue to turn the ball over like they have.

Illinois and Michigan State

Michigan football has a chance to regain some momentum when they travel on the road to play a ranked Illinois team and then host the in-state rival Spartans in the Big House.

It is a great two-week opportunity for them to gain momentum heading into the game vs Oregon. If they go into the Oregon game at 6-2, then who knows what can happen! Crazier things have happened in college football than Michigan football running the table heading into The Game. That has to be the focus for this team the rest of the season until the last Saturday of November gets here. Again, I am not predicting them to go undefeated the rest of the season but I certainly am not counting it out. One game at a time and let the chips fall where they may. Go Blue.